Footballer Ruby Mace on Sport, Confidence, and Self-Love
Football Star Ruby Mace Says Sport Has Had a Huge Impact on Her Self-Confidence — Here's How
Women athletes deserve to be recognised for their talent on the pitch without fearing what people might say about their appearance — this should obviously go without saying. Sadly though, recent research shows this is still a persistent issue in the world of modern sports.
We have Venus's Skin-Consciousness Study to thank for shedding light on this ongoing problem. Last summer, the brand surveyed 2,000 UK women aged 18 to 45 about how skinconsciousness plays a role in sport, and the results are tough to swallow. Almost half of women reported worrying about people commenting on their imperfections if they play in public, and therefore avoided sport. Twenty-one percent admitted they've experienced commentary about their skin or body while playing sport*.
This just demonstrates how much work we still have to do when it comes to normalising real skin and getting folks to understand it's never OK to comment on women athletes' appearances. (Or any woman's appearance, for that matter.) This was a major part of the impetus for Venus's #MoveYourSkin campaign, which aims to combat skinconsciousness as a barrier to participation in sport across the country by empowering women and girls to celebrate themselves for what they can do — not for what they look like. To underscore the importance of that mission, we tapped football superstar Ruby Mace, who knows from personal experience what it's like to tackle skin insecurities in the spotlight. Like Venus, Mace is encouraging women and girls to block out the peanut gallery and learn to love and accept themselves exactly as they are.Football has been a massive part of Mace's life for as long as she can remember. At the wee age of three years old, she started watching her older brother play, and it wasn't long before she fell in love with the sport. "My mum took me to a local training session which was just boys and I was the only girl, and I just loved it so much," she says. "I would run around the house with a football, I just wouldn't leave it alone."
By the time she was five, Mace was playing on a competitive team with all boys, and when she turned seven, she signed on with the esteemed Arsenal Football Club, where she remained until she was 17. "I loved every minute of it," she recalls. From there, Mace decided to take a big risk: moving halfway across the country to play for Manchester City. "I have to say it's the best decision I have ever made," she muses. "Two years on at City, and it's just a dream to represent this club. I can't wait to see what the future holds."
Football has instilled a strong sense of self-confidence in Mace, both on and off the pitch. "Playing with freedom has made me so confident and just being able to showcase what I can do is also a big confidence boost," she says. "Off the pitch, I think the fans play a great role. Sometimes I get recognised in the street and they say 'You're a great player, keep it up,' and that in itself gives me so much confidence to know someone thinks that about me."
While Mace is confident in her abilities overall, she's certainly not immune to insecurities about her skin, both on her face and all over her body. "Sometimes I see pictures of myself and ask, 'Is that really me?' I have freckles and sometimes they put a filter on the picture and it makes [them] look horrible," she says. "And I love my freckles, but when I see them in a picture that someone's added a filter to, it makes me hate them."
Still, Mace doesn't let these feelings get her down for long. "I know in person that's not what I look like, and that's how I try to overcome it and not let it affect my game," she says. Mace deals with spots here and there as well, and has yet to find a product that helps much. With that said, she takes self-care and tending to her skin seriously: "I always make sure to wash and exfoliate my skin every morning and every night," she says. "I wear sunscreen every day to protect my skin even if it's raining, and I make sure if I wear makeup to remove it all before going to bed." Since Mace is so fair, wearing sunscreen is key to caring for her skin all over her body when playing outdoors in the sun all day.
This just goes to show how diligent Mace is, both on and off the pitch. Sure, she sometimes struggles with skinconsciousness, but at the end of the day, she knows her fair, freckly skin is perfectly normal and beautiful the way it is. And she wants other women and girls to know the same. "Normalising real skin means accepting your skin just the way it is and learning to love [it]," she says.
Unsurprisingly, Mace has some solid advice for those struggling with their own skin insecurities. "My advice would be to love yourself first and not worry about people's opinions," she says matter-of-factly. "You have to learn to appreciate yourself."
Playing football — and becoming a role model in the process — has had a hugely positive impact on Mace's life, and she wants the same for other women and girls. "When I step onto the pitch, whether it's training or a match or gym, all my problems [fade] away," she says. "I never thought somebody else would want to be like me, [but] it's a massive compliment. Being a role model is big for me."
Mace often gets messages from younger girls asking for advice and replies as much as she can. "When I was younger, I would have loved for one of the older players to have replied to me," she says. "I give them advice because I believe it can make them feel more confident and happy coming from someone they want to hear it from. That in itself means a lot to me."
Considering her immense love for football, Mace is deeply disheartened by the fact that a quarter of women have stopped playing sport altogether because they were so anxious about their appearance*. "I think it's very sad that [women] feel like this because [it's] stopping [them] from showcasing how good [they] are at sport," she says. "The reason [people] are watching you is because of the sport, not because of your skin."
This ties right back to Venus' #MoveYourSkin campaign. It's no easy feat, but Venus is dedicated to tackling skinconsciousness by normalising what real skin in sport looks like. The brand believes in championing women's bodies for what they can do, not for what they look like, and both Venus and Mace hope to spark positive change and get more women and girls feeling confident in their skin.
Design: Mia Coleman
